Read other letters about this article
but I still can't get over Would you have permitted the torture of one person if it would have prevented the Holocaust? Wbgonne
Got to hand it to you, Woe. As a question it's a beaut. But look at it this way, in our age of godlessness all is permitted! You will be judged only by man and his laws. Forget the impossibility of your hypothetical. The point people have been trying to make is that you can't legalize torture on this basis. But you gotta do what you gotta do, and then you face the consequences. Prevention of the Holocaust would be a great argument in court for your having violated the law. But Woe, would you really rather open the pandora's box of torture legalization than face this inconvenience? Can you imagine the Righteous Gentiles lined up at their memorial glaring at you and asking, "You mean you would have prevented the Holocaust, but only if the act of prevention had no negative consequences for you personally?"